Part-time New School faculty reach tentative contract agreement with the university

Photo from Nov. 28 by Daniel Efram 

After 25 days on strike, nearly 2,600 part-time faculty members at the New School and the Parsons School of Design have reached a tentative contract agreement. 

Here's more via the New School website from last evening: 

A Joint Statement from ACT-UAW Local 7902 and the New School 

We are extremely pleased to announce that ACT-UAW Local 7902 and the New School have reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement. This is a strong, fair, five-year contract that increases compensation significantly, protects health care benefits, and ensures that part-time faculty are paid for additional work done outside the classroom to support our students. 

The union leadership will unanimously recommend this agreement to its members, and it will now go to part-time faculty union members for a ratification vote over the next few days. In the meantime, the union has ended the strike and all university classes and events will resume as scheduled effective immediately. 

And from an Instagram post via New York Indivisible: 

While the part-time faculty are saddened that the university’s intransigence at the bargaining table forced them to leave their classrooms and take to the picket line, they emerge from their work strong, organized, and eager to face the struggles ahead. This tentative agreement is only the beginning, and the part-time faculty will continue to take power back from The New School’s top executives and place it back where it belongs: with the faculty and students, without whom the university could not function. 

As EVG contributor Daniel Efram previously reported, 95% of the faculty voted against accepting the last and best New School offer on Nov. 30.

From our last report: 

"Part-time faculty have not gotten a raise since 2018," said Rachel Aydt, a 20-year part-time New School/Parson faculty member. "And the increase being offered amounts to 1.8% per year, which does not come close to the cost of living increases in New York City during this time." 

According to Annie Lee Larson, part-time faculty at the New School/Parsons, roughly 87% of the teaching faculty are part-time. They seek fair compensation, including for work performed outside the classroom, reliable health care, tangible recourse against discrimination and harassment, and job security.

The tentative agreement ends seven months of negotiations. The part-time faculty were to return to teaching as soon as today.